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Vietnam's top prosecutors have filed fraud charges against an executive of a local real estate company who they said swindled two Australian investors out of nearly US$7 million in 2010.

Hoang Van Luong, 57, chief executive officer of property developer Rang Dong in the southern province of Binh Phuoc, was arrested earlier last year after the investors reported the case to Vietnamese police.

Prosecutors said that the province contracted Rang Dong in 2005 to develop a residential project in Ho Chi Minh City. The two apartment blocks, covering 3,500 square meters of land allocated by the Ministry of Defense, are meant for state employees of the province who study or work in HCMC.

Between 2010 and 2012, two Australian investors Lam Yin Cho and Lee Park Ling sent $6.9 million to Luong to join the project.

After Luong failed to follow the deals through and refused to return their money, the investors filed complaints. Luong was arrested in January 2015.

Investigators said the company was not licensed to call for private investment into the project.